Monday

Freiburg and Staufen, Germany - Bavaria Part II

Pictures ENLARGE if you click on them. It was lightly raining when we arrived in Freiburg Germany, but we still had a great time walking around.

This metal alligator was in a stream that ran through the middle of the town.

We always liked seeing the "Smart" cars in Europe, much smaller than the typical cars in the States. When we leftFreiburg, we drove to Staufen, Germany and stayed at the Hotel Die Gasthaus Krone. This was the nicest hotel we stayed at in Germany. Above is a photo of our room.
The most famous inhabitant of Staufen was Johann Georg Faust, the legendary alchemist and magician whose character was depicted in Goethe’s piece “Faustus”. Faust was employed as a “goldmaker” by the lord of the castle Anton von Staufen. In 1539 Faust was found dead in his room in the hotel “Lion”, allegedly killed by a chemical explosion.
Faust (c1480 - 1539), an actual historical figure who sparked urban legends in his own day, was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil for 24 years of prosperity and magical power. He died in the town of Staufen and fuelled speculation that the devil had claimed him, body and soul, in fulfilment of his pact.

This is the view from our room.

There was a castle in ruins at the top of a hill in Staufen that you could see from our room.
The courtyard of the Staufen castle could shelter 1,000 people. The Staufen castle stems from the 11th century and was supposedly built to protect the silver mines in the adjacent Muenster valley that provided the main income for the Counts of Staufen.
Today, the land around the Staufen castle is cultivated by winegrowers who produce one of Germany’s great wines.
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